1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to an image forming device having a processing unit which performs an image forming process on a sheet of paper and a sheet-metal housing which houses the processing unit.
2. Description of the Related Art.
Electrophotographic image forming devices such as a printer and a facsimile have a plurality of built-in processing units for performing an image forming process on a sheet of paper. Examples of processing units include a photosensitive drum unit on which a toner image is formed, a developing unit which supplies toner to a photosensitive drum in order to form a toner image on the photosensitive drum and, in a case of a tandem-type image forming device, an intermediate transfer unit having an intermediate transfer belt onto which a color toner image is transferred.
An image forming device further includes a housing which defines a housing space that houses a plurality of processing units such as those described above and which supports the processing units inside the housing space. Normally, the housing is constituted by a sheet-metal frame member in order to secure rigidity of the housing.
Meanwhile, recent image forming devices are required to be lighter while securing rigidity of housings. When a housing constituted by a sheet-metal frame member such as described above is used, although the rigidity of the housing can be secured, achieving a lighter weight of the image forming device may prove difficult. Therefore, the afore-mentioned requirement toward recent image forming devices cannot be satisfied.